Two dreadful defensive errors helped to hasten Aston Villa's disastrous exit from the League Cup in their Third Round replay against Everton at Goodison Park last night.

Brian Kidd and Bob Latchford, two of the most powerful finishers in the country, fastened on to both of them and Villa's interest in the competition came to a sad end.

The first error came after only five minutes with full back Gibson hitting his clearance against Bremner and the ball felling straight at Kidd's feet to give the burly striker the easiest of chances.

Kidd's golden opportunity should have been averted at the first attempt, when goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer failed to hold Nulty's stout shot at the far post, from Wright's low cross.

Rimmer was again glaringly at fault six minutes later when he dropped a sharp shot from overlapping full back Wright, for deposed England centre forward Latchford to score his first senior goal of the season from eight yards.

Latchford, who had earlier heard he had been left out of England's European Championship squad for the game against Northern Ireland next week, killed off Villa with a determined 74th minute goal after a glorious long through ball from Hartford.

Two minutes later, Rimmer's personal nightmare was completed when a short corner from John Bailey saw the experienced goalkeeper deflect King's hard driven low cross into the net.

It would be all too easy to blame Villa's crunching defeat on the frailties of Rimmer. But it has to be reported that he received little responsible cover from the men in front of him.

McNaught. back in the side after his one match suspension, and Evans, never appeared secure at the centre of the defence and Gibson, deputising for Gidman, was often lacking in defensive awareness.

The problems were not only in defence, Villa's midfield trio of Mortimer, Bremner and Cowans were often completely overrun by their Everton counterparts.

It was certainly not a night to be a Villa fan and their overall performance was downright disappointing after their handsome 3-0 First Division win over Southampton on Saturday.

Unhappily. they seldom looked like converting the chances they created. New £300,000 record signing David Geddes and Brian Little again showed few constructive ideas in attack.

Even the late 89th-minute goal from Ken Swain had a touch of the consolation about it, with the winger hitting a powerful shot past goalkeeper Wood after Cowans's centre had been laid back by Geddis.

The most worrying aspect of their Cup demise is that Everton really had little to offer either and they played like a side which had won only one of their previous home games and that against Second Division Cardiff City in the League Cup.

Clearly manager Ron Saunders has a host of problems on his hands. The overall team performance was disjointed and if this form is continued Villa can only expect a season of long and hard struggle.

It was indeed a very demoralising affair, particularly as the storm-clouds are forming off the field in the shape of the extraordinary general meeting on November 1.